Lonely Traveler

I like to travel a lot. This is all about my traveling. Right now my plan is to travel the whole Bangladesh. After that I'll try to explore other countries. You can say this blog is my personal travel diary. I put my traveling experiences here. Also I have some penchant about flowers. During my traveling, if I encounter any flower, I just upload that here with a short note.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Palm grass flower is naturally available around the hilly area in Bangladesh (from my observation). Previously I have seen this a lot at Khagrachhori (খাগড়াছড়ি), Rangamati (রাঙামাটি), Bandarban (বান্দরবান) during my trekking. But never seen this in our plain land. I didn't find any authentic Bengali name for this flower. But it has a nice English name that is Palm grass flower. It belongs to the plant family Hypoxidaceae, and it's botanical name is Molineria capitulata. It is native to the Himalayan range, Eastern Asia, and Australia.

In Bangladesh, we mostly see this plant growing small and with one flower most of the times, and a group of 2/3 flowers rarely. But in Nepal I have seen this plant bringing lot of flowers at it's base and formed a bizarre shape in place of withered flowers. Probably that could be a reason for not taking any shot of the flowers as a group (I still feel regret for not making any click, alas!).

In Bangladesh it is a small growing plant, but in other parts (i.e. Indonesia) it can be a much bushy plant (mainly the leafs and the petioles those emerges from the base) that doesn't have any trunk. Flowers are small, star shaped, yellow color, and six petals from my observation. They blooms from the base of the plant. The rhizome can remain dormant over a long period time despite of adverse condition.

The name palm grass is because of the leafs. They look like the young palm leafs (after palm seeding). Though it grows naturally, in some country it is being handled as an ornamental flowering plant.

Photos of this article were taken from Rema-Kalenga Reserve Forest, Hobigang (রেমা-কালেঙ্গা রিসার্ভ ফরেস্ট, হবিগঞ্জ) during April 2013. It was a single day trekking during the summer.

This is another common bird from Bangladesh that is found everywhere, wandering around the trees, and you need to be more careful to locate this bird, otherwise it will remain invisible to you. Its name is Chestnut-tailed starling, Grey-headed myna, etc. In Bangladesh we call this as Kath Shalik (কাঠ শালিক). At some places this is also known as Badami Shalik (বাদামী শালিক), Shonkho Shalik (শঙ্খ শালিক), etc. It's scientific name is Sturnia malabarica and belongs to the family Sturnidae.

Chestnut-tailed starling is the smallest starling bird from Bangladesh. And similar to many other birds from Bangladesh, this one is also native the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian region. This is a gregarious bird and prefers to live inside the woods and leafs (in other word, a shy bird).

Both male and female Chestnut-tailed starling (কাঠ শালিক) birds are similar. Upper part of the bird (head, back, wing) is greyish and the front side and the inner tail is chestnut colored. The color of the beak is yellow/orange at near the opening and pale blue at the base. It has four fingers in foot and the color of foot is similar to the front's color.

Chestnut-tailed starling is an omnivorous bird, which means it eats everything starting from the insect to nectar. Initial photos of this article were taken from Chandpur (চাঁদপুর) during winter. A flock of these birds were busy with collecting sap from a date-palm tree.

Photos of this article were taken from Bangladesh during 2015:
1) 17 January 2015: Lohagor, Chandpur (লোহাগড়, চাঁদপুর).

Friday, February 27, 2015

Chunakhola mosque (চুনাখোলা মসজিদ) is located at the Northern side of the Bibi Begni Mosque (বিবি বেগনীর মসজিদ) which is just a few minutes of walking distance. After visiting the mosque we have headed for that one through the tinny village path which was covered with too many trees, which means the walking was a conducive one despite of having an unlikely hot day at the middle of our winter.

Unlike any other mosques from around, this one was having plenty of spaces around. In fact it was at the middle of the field (paddy or other seasonal). It is a single dome mosque and the dome is noticeably larger one. Also, the dome isn't placed at the center of the mosque. From my observation the dome is inclined slightly towards the Northern wall.

Apart from the beautiful semi spherical dome atop, the mosque is having three doors at the Eastern wall. And a single door each at the Northern and Southern walls. The mosque has beautiful four columns at the four corners of the mosque (similar to any other from it's contemporary). The shape of this Chunakhola Mosjid (চুনাখোলা মসজিদ) is square.

It is unknown (at least to me) about the exact build date of the mosque. But from the architecture and the circumstances it looks like a mosque of 15th century. And some people believe this was built by an employee (or worker/servant) of the great Khan Jahan Ali (খান জাহান আলী).

How to Go:

Chunakhola Mosque (চুনাখোলা মসজিদ) is located at the Western side of the famous Sixty Dome Mosque. From the main town you can easily go there by taking a battery driven auto rickshaw. GPS coordinate of the mosque is (22°40'42.72"N, 89°43'55.82"E). The last 200 meter of the road wasn't good (for vehicle) and you may need to have a walk. But the good news is the government is constructing the road.

Three doors at the Eastern side of the wall.

Where to Stay:

Bagerhat (বাগেরহাট) is very near from the Khulna (খুলনা) town. Around 40 minutes of drive at maximum. And Khulna (খুলনা) is a divisional district. It has several international standard hotels along with plenty of cheap hotels. You can check in those for your night staying. I have stayed at the Royal International Hotel, an old and famous hotel from Khulna. And I always go for the old but famous hotels. The reason is, they are always classy, and everyone knows about location. Just ask anyone from Khulna (খুলনা) about this hotel from anywhere around there :-).

View of the mosque from the North-East corner.

Southern wall of the mosque and it has another door on it.

It was the day-2 of our four days trip at Southern Bangladesh. We have traveled Barisal (বরিশাল), Jhalokathi (ঝালকাঠি), Pirojpur (পিরোজপুর), Bagerhat (বাগেরহাট), and Khulna (খুলনা) in those days.